It’s been a whirlwind few weeks for teenage punk-rockers The Linda Lindas. After footage of a riotous live rendition of high-octane track Racist Sexist Boy went viral, the four-piece were promptly signed by music industry powerhouse Epitaph Records.
More recently, the up-and-coming punk outfit made their national television debut, appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live! for a stellar performance of their high-gain anti-racism anthem.
As would be expected, their Kimmel appearance is every bit as infectious as their trail-blazing LA Public Library performance, with the punk outfit see-sawing between chugging, gain-drenched powerchord passages and raucous, double-time thrash-a-thons.
The occasion also prompted a gear change, with electric guitar slinger Lucia de la Garza swapping out her Fender Telecaster in favor of an updated St. Vincent Ernie Ball Music Man signature, which she wields to maximum effect. You can watch the entire performance in the video below.
Of the song’s origin, drummer Mila de la Garza told Kimmel, “The backstory is that a boy from school told me that his dad told him to stay away from Chinese people. I told him that I was Chinese, and he backed away from me.”
Bass guitar player and lead vocalist Eloise Wong added, “There’s also a lot of sexism around boys our age, and unfortunately in every age. We were really angry, and we decided to write a song about it.” Sounds like the origins of every great punk song, ever.
When the track initially went viral, it caught the attention of numerous guitar heroes on social media, with Tom Morello dubbing it “song of the day”. Thurston Moore also weighed in, saying, “Song of 2021 so far… by far! Total inspiration is ageless.”
You can check out The Linda Lindas' debut self-titled EP over on their Bandcamp page.
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